Chapter 287: Talking Roots (1/2)
”Hm...interesting.” Lily finally finally, after her questions had been answered to some degree. She'd asked for a bunch of information that was far too technical for him to really explain, but he did his best to describe what little he knew about soil health and the requirements for plant growth. This of course led to yet further questions, but was eventually able to stave them off with the well worn excuse that he didn't really know how he did it, but his skills made it possible.
Once her curiosity was more or less satisfied, she took a sample of the soil and returned to the cabin where she was presumably going to conduct some experiments.
Mike asked William to follow her and keep her from creating any more damage. He was hoping that Lily would be distracted enough by whatever mystery she'd noticed in the soil that she'd avoid messing with anything dangerous. Then again, this was Lily they were talking about.
[She did once manage to create a fair sized explosion by heating water, so there is no telling what might happen in an actual lab. Maybe I should build some kind of bomb-proof lab for her so that I at least don't have to worry about her causing too much collateral damage.]
Interrogation dealt with, Mike turned his attention towards one last issue that would hinder efforts to grow plants in the demi-realm. Or rather, the problem was brought to his attention.
Sera, having finished her investigations of the cabin, had wandered out in time to catch the tail end of his conversation with Lily, and chimed in once they were done. ”I know this whole soil thing is supposedly a big deal, but I've been meaning to ask for a while now, what are you planning to do about water?”
”I've been thinking about it, but I haven't come to a decent solution just yet. I'd thought I'd have a little more time before we were ready to begin planting. For the time being, I can use Water Magic.”
The Oracle frowned in thought. ”That might work in the short term, but it would be better to make this realm somewhat independent. I know we have that tree, but I can already tell he'll be useless when it comes to magic.”
”Ah, but I have a positive attitude and perseverance on my side! At the end of the day, isn't that what's really important?” Reber shot back. He was standing with his wooden feet dug into the ground, evidently experimenting with the ground in his own unique manner.
A vein popped out on Sera's forehead as her brow furrowed in obvious irritation. After taking a few seconds to control herself, she continued while pretending that no one had interrupted. ”Ahem, did the control pillar have any options to create precipitation?”
Mike shook his head. ”I don't think so, but honestly I don't know enough about it to be sure. It's possible, but I get the feeling that this place was never meant to be an independent world. Weather patterns are probably outside of its scope.”
”The place is too small and too cut off to create any kind of air movement,” The tree man broke in again, showing no indication that he was aware of Sera's hostility. ”Of course, the control pillar probably does something regarding ambient weather conditions.”
”What makes you say that? I looked all over it, and didn't see anything that would have that kind of effect.”
”Simple deduction, my good man.” Reber replied jovially while tapping the side of his head. Mike thought he heard the sound of Sera's teeth grinding in response. ”If this place really is isolated, then something must be keeping it habitable by regulating temperature, pressure, air composition, humidity, and all that. Since there really is nothing else here that would fit the bill, it makes sense that the control pillar is involved somehow. ”
”So you're suggesting that there is some kind of life-support function built in? While that might be the case, I don't really want to mess with it.”
”Fair. But that leaves back at square one. I do have one idea that might just be crazy enough to work...”
Already sensing that this was gearing up to be a major digression, Mike headed it off before they got too involved. ”It's alright. For the time being, I'll just come back every day to do the watering. When I have some time, I'll work on creating some kind of sprinkler system with Artifice.”
Reber shrugged. ”Suit yourself. It would have been a pain to find that much tapioca anyway.”
[...No, not engaging.]
Plans firmly in place, he quickly escaped before he could get dragged into anything else, and made his way back to his workshop.
Firing up the forge for the first time, he tried turning one of his iron ingots into a flat sheet of metal. While there was no immediate purpose for doing so, he figured that it would be a good way of testing out his tools while working on his Smithing skill.
It quickly became apparent that he'd overestimated his ability to create things with Earth Magic, as roughly half of the items he'd brought into existence were fundamentally flawed in a manner that practically made them unusable. Hammers would shatter on contact with a metal surface. Tongs would refuse to close without breaking. Even his anval quickly developed a significant crack. Before he could do any real work, he was forced to spend some time painstakingly recreating new items while paying close attention to their composition.
After a few hours of dedicated work, he succeeded in refurbishing his tool collection and making the metal sheet he'd originally been aiming for. Once it was fully quenched and ready to have the excess cut off, he took a moment to examine his handiwork.
To his admittedly inexperienced eye, it looked to be fairly regular in terms of both thickness and general shape and he felt a bizarre sense of pride in his accomplishment. He doubted that the piece would stand up to the scrutiny of any experienced smith, but it was not bad for a new crafter just starting out. From this point on, he would work on refining his techniques.
Deciding that his next attempt could wait until tomorrow, Mike used the last few hours of his time in the demi-realm constructing Lily's lab. He decided to go with more or less the same layout he used with his workshop, but kept the work area fairly open in order to reduce the concussive effects of explosions that took place there.
Figuring that durability was key, he made the walls thick and reinforced them with rods of steel he created with Earth Magic. After forming a few tables and workbenches, he decided to call it a day. Due to the specialized and delicate nature of most alchemical tools, they would need to acquire some from specialty shops to properly outfit the lab.